AGA Concerned by Methodology of Study by Gruenwald et al.

The claims made in Gruenwald et al. are derived from an advocacy-based mathematical exercise that doesn’t add any new science. The authors conducted no measurements or tests based on real-life appliance usage, emissions rates, or exposures, and did not adequately consider other factors that are known to contribute to asthma and other respiratory health outcomes. The authors selected an estimated health risk, but if this value is wrong or biased, then the paper’s results will also be wrong or biased. Overall, because the calculation in the Gruenwald et al. study is based on data that are either not validated or do not accurately reflect risks associated with gas cooking, the results are equally unvalidated and have the same concerns with inaccuracy and unreliability. 

Inexplicably, the authors ignored their own search of peer-reviewed manuscripts since 2013, where they found “none reported new associations between gas stove use and childhood asthma specifically in North America or Europe.” That critical finding was evidently jettisoned in service of a headline-grabbing approach and without acknowledging any of the underlying studies’ significant limitations or inconsistent findings.

The natural gas utility industry is fully committed to consumer health and safety and reducing emissions. As concerns over emissions from gas ranges are raised and debated, the natural gas industry is focused on bringing objective data-driven analysis and technical information to the discussion.